Wednesday 24 February 2010

Leeds Refectory

Seeing that clip of Freddie King reminded me of the time me and our Chris saw him live in 1969 whilst Chris was a student at Leeds University. Freddie was amazing. The Students Union used to put on concerts in the refectory at Leeds and some of the best bands played there; I used to hitch down to Leeds or, if I had the money, take the train, and kip on Chris' floor. As well as Freddie King, there were Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Cream, The Rolling Stones, Leon Russell, Derek & The Dominoes, Paul McCartney & Wings, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck and many more. The Who recorded their 'Live at Leeds' album there - Chris is in the audience for that one, which I missed for some reason that escapes me now. (Buy the album - it's a cracker).
The organisation of these gigs was a bit shambolic to begin with as there was no proper stage. For the Cream gig they simply turned some tables on their sides to separate the crowd from the band. And I expect there were some comments made next day when the caretaker found that Ginger Baker's bass drums had been nailed to the parquet flooring to prevent slippage. Later on, things went a bit more professional and a temporary stage was built.
I dare say the Students Union still puts on gigs these days but just looking at their website the programme doesn't look all that exciting; Finlay Quaye and Alphabeat.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Previously...